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What the hell is all that noise?

It's us!

Shanty Club is here for one purpose; to keep alive the past-time of communal folk singing. Singing that's judgement free. For too long churches, choir rooms and sports stadiums have held sway over the choral landscape. We're here to take it back with working songs of the sea, land, rail, and fax machine. 

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If it's got a good chorus, we'll sing it

We're not purists. We sing shanties, railroad songs, mining songs, modern parodies, pretty much anything folksy - we even regularly sing a Tom Waits song.

So if you've got a folk song in your heart,
come on down and sing it with us.

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But there are songs we don't sing

Communal folk singing is an old and beautiful past time. But it does mean there are some songs from old eras that shouldn't be sung anymore. Songs with outdated terminologies and mentalities. If you want more detail, there's more on our resources page

So we do our part in making sure that what does continue are songs that deserve to stick around, ones that tell jokes, stories and tall-tales that are comfortable to sing for just about everyone.

 

Which still leaves us with heeeaaps of songs to sing. 

If you'd still like to know more about what to and what not to do at shanty club, shoot us a message.

Faces that are good to know

Where we've sung

The National Folk Festival    Illawarra Folk Festival    Folk by the Sea    Cobargo Folk Festival    St Alban's Folk Festival     Perisher Peak Festival    Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival    Sydney Gaffers Day   Sydney Wooden Boat Festival   The ABC     Sydney Folk Festival    Hyde Park Barracks    Wollongong Folk Club    Loaded Dog Folk Club    James Craig Music Club     Barangaroo Giant Picnic    Fairbridge Festival    PlaySchool    Pirate Day (For Kid's Cancer Project)

Clubs of Old

Please doff your caps for Shanty Clubs past

Marrickville Shanty Club

Marrickville Shanty Club
Gasoline Pony

Wynyard Shanty Club

Wynyard Shanty Club
Duke of Clarence

Sydney Shanty Club

Sydney Shanty Club
Spawn Point Bar

Newtown Shanty Club

Newtown Shanty Club
5 Eliza

Newtown Shanty Club

Netwon Shanty Club
Kelly's on King

Chippendale Shanty Club

Chippendale Shanty Club
Fortress

Camperdown Shanty Club

Camperdown Shanty Club
Wayward Brewing Co

City Shanty Club

City Shanty Club
Button Bar

Captains Past

An honorary list of past leaders who have helmed Shanty Club over the years.

Carlo Ritchie

Founder

Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd

Captain

Joe Glover

Captain

Jack Ballhausen

Captain

Shelley Eves

Captain

Robert Boddington

Captain

We acknowledge the Gadigal and Bidjigal people of the Eora nation, upon whose lands we gather and sing.
We acknowledge sovereignty was never ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

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Numerous photos by Nick Ryden 

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